This weekend we went to the Neiman Marcus Christmas Parade downtown. Aunt Stacy gets to buy tickets early since she is a teacher and she gets them every year. There were quite a few firsts for Cooper... first parade balloon, first marching band (the drums were especially cool), first clowns, first Santa! We had a great time even if it was a bit chilly outside. But, seriously, what Christmas Parade would be fun without cold weather??

Also this weekend, I put up a second Christmas tree especially for Cooper. He was fascinated by our big tree in the living room but the balls are all glass and I generally try to keep him out of there. We have a small space between the couch and chair in the sunroom and thought it might be fun to put a small tree in it. Danny wasn't exactly on board at first. I am not sure why... maybe he thought it would be in the way or something but he kept saying, "Why does Cooper NEED his own tree?" Clearly he was missing the point. Not only did I think it would be cute in there, but I really wanted Cooper to experience the whole Christmas tree thing.

So, Grandmother told me she had a 6 foot tree which turned out to be perfect. It is really about 5.5 feet tall and fits perfectly in the space. I decorated it with multi-colored lights which usually aren't my thing, but I thought they would be fun. I also added some snow ball lights I got last year. For the ornaments, I made sure not to use any metal hangers and used things that were fun and not breakable. I hit a Pottery Barn sale last year and used most of that haul: there are some pewter cars and trains, some red berry kissing balls, and some bells from the big tree. I also added picture frames with pictures from the last year. Lastly, Grandmother provided us with some wooden ornaments she painted for Danny when he was a kid. I know my Mom has some too so I plan to hit her up for some of those. All-in-all, it is super cute and he loves it. The first night he took everything off that he could grab. The next day, he didn't have nearly as much interest and has left it alone pretty much every day since. And I think Danny likes it now too, so we are all happy. (click here for December pics)

For Thanksgiving, we went to Austin and stayed with Uncle Britt, Aunt Heather, and Cousins Ford and Waylon. It was a fun trip and Cooper and Ford had a fantastic time together. Cooper went to his first tailgate and did great on the trip down and back. It was lots of fun! (pictures here)